Shalom! Can you please give me some information
on the origins and history of Sephardic Jews? Though I am not
Jewish, I enjoy your posts, and think you have a delightful sense
of humor! Blessings and thanks.

Dear Jo Anne Crowson,

After the Destruction of the First Temple, around
450 BCE, the Jews were exiled to Babylon (modern day Iraq). After
the 70-year exile many returned.

However, the majority of the Jews did not return,
preferring Babylon instead. The Jews in Israel were again exiled
in 70 CE, this time by the Romans. The Roman exile created communities
in Europe and North Africa. The European communities were mainly
in France, Spain and Rome, some in Germany as well. The Jews
in France and Germany became known as Ashkenazim (Hebrew
for "Germans") and the Jews in Spain became known as
Sephardim (Hebrew for "Spaniards"). The Jews
in Spain, which for hundreds of years was under Arab rule, had
connection and communication with the Jews of North Africa and
the Middle East, and hence all the Jews of these lands became
known as Sephardim. Differences in custom developed over
many years; some had their origin in halachic disputes among the
Rabbis of the various communities, and some in outside cultural
influences.